JBRA General Meeting Progress Report - 15th June 2011

When I became chairman of JBRA in February 2011, I set 3 major objectives. These were

• To improve the membership of the residents association
• To increase our interaction with and impact on the Kouga Municipality
• If time permits, to improve our relationship with other residents associations and FEKRRA

 Residents Association

We now have 940 names in our database, close to our target of 1000 by July. Of this 940, 270 have signed up as non-voting members for free, and 120 as voting members for R40 each, a total of just on 400 registered members. We have sent out 3 membership emails, run 2 recruitment mornings at Equinox Mall and Spar, and signed up numerous friends and relatives.  Nevertheless, fewer than one in 20 J Bay residents has joined the association, even though they can do so for free. There is simply no point in having a residents association if the residents don’t join it or support it.

Membership forms can be obtained from the BP garage, and the J Bay library, or the website. You can apply for membership online, or completed forms can be handed in at the library, posted, emailed or faxed.

Since February we have setup a big website at www.jbayra.com. Amongst many other things, you can view the latest association news, see a list of all the issues under discussion with the council, get the contact  details of every newly elected councillor in Kouga, and use an interactive map of J Bay to find any street address. So far we have had about 330 unique visitors to the website.

Activity on our blog has been quiet, with about 760 pageviews since February. Only 11 people have subscribed to receive updates, and almost no one has added an article or a comment. Please, please – talk to us, even if just to complain. Otherwise it feels as though we are shouting down an empty hole.

We have had many articles and references published in the local press, almost every week.  Our secretary maintains a very impressive cuttings file, which you are welcome to inspect.

Committee membership has been quite dynamic, with a number of members finding the workload too challenging. In some cases, the committee members could not find the workload at all.  We have now stabilised at 5 hardworking members, to whom my most grateful thanks. If you are interested in joining the committee, if you are connected to the internet, and if you have the time and energy to spare, please contact us soon.

Kouga Municipality

A recent Business Day article by Rene Voolgraff rated KM as the second worst municipality in the country. This is shocking but not surprising. Our local municipality is plagued with financial irregularities, excessive salary bills, severe cash flow problems, and a failing infrastructure.  In the recent past we have had the damning Auditor General report, the suspension of the CFO, major cash flow problems with Eskom payments, and the closure of Dolphin Beach for a week. Our local economy is collapsing, shops are closing, unemployment is growing. We already have an unofficial rates boycott, with only 46% or rates and services being paid. These are serious times, requiring serious solutions.

The JBRA has had 3 meetings with the KM staff. These meetings are taken seriously by the MM, heads of departments have attended regularly, strict minutes are kept. Nevertheless, many commitments to provide information and reports, to attend meetings, to respond to complaints are just simply not honoured.  Just this week 2 meetings with senior council staff, Eksteen de Lange and Elvis Olivier, were simply ignored – no apology, no warning, no show.   The MM refused to attend this meeting or send representatives. No meeting of the crucial Finance Oversight Committee has been held since March.  We have received no response to our enquiries concerning membership of the Audit Committee.  Unless the KM response improves soon, the relationship between the residents association and the council will be in danger of failing.

There have been some small successes. The problems at the J Bay caravan park are receiving attention. The Newton Hall has been approved for use by sports codes. Construction of a new sewerage plant has been approved. Overall, if this were a school exam, I would give the KM a mark of 39 out of a 100 – failing but trying, can definitely do better.  The biggest problems remain financial which my colleague Dr Gustav Barnard will address shortly.

Some problems which have a big impact on the appearance of our town are actually quite simple to solve. The appearance of our beaches, the cleanliness of our streets, the state of street names, these don’t take rocket science to get right. Any motivated supervisor with a few workers would have these problems licked in a week.  The fact that the council can’t get something this simple sorted out is simply tragic.

How do we address these issues? One idea is to get residents more involved in some municipal activities which directly affect them, through what we are calling Resident Projects.  A group of residents get together to accomplish one specific task. It may be keeping the local beach tidy. It may be refurbishing the street signs in Central J Bay. Like a blockwatch, the tasks are divided up amongst the group, workers and funds are allocated, and the job is done.  With luck the council will support this idea, allocate some funds, and not put meaningless obstacles in the way. But even if we have to do do it alone, as concerned and active residents, it is better than just watching our town fade away for lack of a little attention. If you approve of this idea, if you are willing to get involved in even a small way, please write your name and contact number on one of the Resident Project posters around the hall.

Gustav will talk about the particularly important Legal Watchdog Resident Project we hope to start as soon as possible.

FEKRRA and other residents associations

The Federation of Kouga Residents and Ratepayers Associations has been very quiet this year due to the ill health of its chairman and driving force, Joe Oosthuizen.  We have representatives of both the St Francis Ratepayers association and the Paradise Beach Ratepayers Association with us here today. Hopefully we can get together after this meeting and plot a way forward for FEKRRA.

That is an overview of the past 3 months or so of the JBRA.  Dr Gustav Barnard will now talk on some of the financial aspects of the KM, and our ideas for a legal watchdog group.

After Gustav, Dries Du Preez of Fountains Estate will bring us up to date on circumstances surrounding the new low cost housing development planned for Ocean View.